José Ernesto "Pichy" Torres Zamora (born June 7, 1971) is a Puerto Rican

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

and former Secretary General of the New Progressive Party (PNP). He was a member of the

Puerto Rico House of Representatives The House of Representatives of Puerto Rico () is the lower house of the Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico, the bicameral territorial legislature of Puerto Rico. The House, together with the Senate, control the legislative branch of the go ...

from June 10, 2010, when he replaced Iris Miriam Ruíz, until 2013. He won a seat in the PR House of Representatives in 2016 and currently he serves as the Speaker Pro Tempore of the Puerto Rico House of Representatives.

Early years and studies

José Ernesto Torres Zamora was born in

Jayuya Jayuya () is a town and municipality of Puerto Rico located in the mountainous center region of the island, north of Ponce; east of Utuado; and west of Ciales. Jayuya is spread over 10 barrios and Jayuya Pueblo (the downtown and administra ...

on June 7, 1971, to Monsita Zamora González and Ernesto Torres Torres. He is the oldest of three children. His parents were founders of the New Progressive Party in Jayuya. Torres Zamora graduated with honors from Josefina León Zayas High School. He was also president of his class in 1988. After that, he studied at the

University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez The University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus (UPRM) or Recinto Universitario de Mayagüez (RUM) in Spanish (also referred to as Colegio and CAAM in allusion to its former name), is a Public university, public land-grant university in Mayagüez ...

, where he completed a

Bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

in Chemical Engineering, graduating Cum Laude. Torres Zamora completed post-secondary studies at the

Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico The Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico ( Spanish: ''Universidad Politécnica de Puerto Rico''; shortened to PUPR in English and UPPR in Spanish, and informally referred to as Poly) is a private university based in San Juan, Puerto Rico, with ad ...

where he completed a master's degree on Environmental Management and a master's degree on Engineering Management, graduating with summa cum laude. Torres Zamora completed a Juris Doctor Degree at the

University of Puerto Rico Law School The University of Puerto Rico School of Law is the law school of the University of Puerto Rico at Río Piedras, the only law school in the University of Puerto Rico System and the only public law school in Puerto Rico. It was founded in 1913 at ...

Professional career

Torres Zamora is a Licensed Professional Engineer and worked for 15 years in the private sector specifically at Baxter Healthcare Corporation in its operation at Jayuya Puerto Rico. At the facility he worked at the Quality and Engineering areas. He directed at once the Environmental Engineering, Health and Safety, Plant Engineering, Utility, Security and Maintenance areas. Under his leadership the Baxter Jayuya was awarded several times with the Best Environmental Program Award for Baxter Global and Puerto Rico Manufacturing Association Environmental Best Program Awards several times. He was awarded by the Environmental Protection Agency with the National Performance Awards on 2003. He manage to achieve the certifications of ISO 14001 Environmental Compliance and OHSAS 18001 Heath and Safety for the facility. His leadership was recognized by Baxter Corporate several times been of the few Plant Engineers serving as an Environmental Health and Safety auditors used in facilities in Mexico, Costa Rica, Republica Dominicana, Illinois, Indiana, North Carolina and Memphis.

Political career

Since his youth, Torres Zamora showed a penchant for leadership. In 1991, he was Vice President of the PNP Youth in

. In 2001, he was vice president, and then President of the PNP in Jayuya. From 2005 to 2008, he was elected to the Municipal Assembly of the town, where he served as his party speaker. Torres Zamora ran for an election spot at the 2008 primaries but lost. However, in 2010, after Iris Miriam Ruíz was sworn in as Ombudswoman, Torres Zamora was called to fill the vacancy. He was sworn in on June 10, 2010. At the 2012 primaries, Torres Zamora received the support of his party to run again for the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

. He was the candidate with the second-most votes, after incumbent Speaker Jenniffer González. However, he was defeated at the

general election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...

. On December 26, 2012, Governor and President of the PNP

Luis Fortuño Luis Guillermo Fortuño Burset (born 31 October 1960) is a Puerto Ricans, Puerto Rican politician who served as the governor of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States, from 2009 to 2013. Fortuño served as the first Secre ...

appointed Torres Zamora as Secretary General of the party. On June 6, 2016, Torres Zamora was elected as one of the six at-large representative candidates of the New Progressive Party to participate in the 2016 General Elections. He had the fourth-most votes in the primaries for at-large representative. In the 2016 General Election Torres Zamora was elected as one of the 11 Puerto Rico at-large Representatives, with the sixth-most votes. Later the NPP Caucus elected Pichy Torres Zamora as the new Speaker Pro-Tempore of the Puerto Rico House of Representatives. He was sworn in on January 2, 2017, as Puerto Rico Representative and elected Speaker Pro Tempore on January 9, 2017.

Controversy

In early 2019, the people of the municipality of Loíza and others were offended and demanded an apology after Torres Zamora revealed a 2012

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post by then-Secretary General of the Popular Democratic Party José Nazario Álvarez making a racist comment on an image of a black woman stating she was "as black as carbon.. you only find those in Loíza".

Personal life

Torres Zamora married Ivelisse Colon Berrios on March 7, 1998, they met at college in 1988 where their friendship began. From this union they raised two boys, Joseluis who born in 1998 and Felipe Antonio who born in 2007. They separated in 2013 and divorced in 2015 after 15 years. Ivelisse Colon Berrios (Former Commissioner of Financial Institution of Puerto Rico) died on July 6, 2017; at that time he gained full custody of his two sons Joseluis Ernesto(19) and Felipe Antonio (10). Today Pichy is a single dad rising his kids, studying at night and serving Puerto Rico from the House of Representatives as Deputy Speaker and from his party and Under Secretary.

References

External links

José Torres Zamora
on tucamarapr.org , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Torres Zamora, Jose Pichy 1971 births 21st-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico Living people New Progressive Party members of the House of Representatives of Puerto Rico People from Jayuya, Puerto Rico Republican Party (Puerto Rico) politicians